Opera, folk opera or
musical? All these descriptions have
been used to describe Porgy and Bess.
Personally, I think ones answer is largely
determined by early seeing or hearing
experiences. Currently that experience
will likely to be of an video or sound
version of the outstanding 1980s Glyndebourne
production conducted by Simon Rattle
and recorded by EMI. Earlier generations
may well have been influenced towards
the operatic view by the 1950s highlights
included here as an appendix and which
include RisëStevens
and Robert Merrill, star singers at
the New York Metropolitan Opera. It
was later recordings conducted by Lorin
Maazel (Decca) and John DeMain (RCA)
that really focused the issue of opera
or musical. Until Rattle’s Glyndebourne
performance, Maazel’s recording held
foremost position with a clear view
of the work as opera. Both Rattle and
Maazel’s recordings had Willard White
as a superbly characterised and resonant
voiced Porgy. DeMain with a cast that
had been a great success on Broadway
and elsewhere in the U.S.A. presents
the alternative view with equal success.

With the benefit of
hindsight it is hard to understand the
difficulty Porgy and Bess had in establishing
the place it now enjoys in the repertoire
although colour prejudice in America
could have played a part. Premiered
in 1935 to mixed reviews it ran for
124 performances; a failure by musical
comedy standards. There were various
revivals in the 1940s but Ira Gershwin,
the composer’s brother, who had helped
write the lyrics, and Goddard Lieberson
of Columbia Records of America, sought
to record a version not linked to any
stage production but more clearly focused
on the music and singing. The main recording
on this Naxos issue was the result.
Camilla Williams as Bess and Lawrence
Winters as Porgy sang at the New York
City Opera. Avon Long who had vaudeville
background and later made a considerable
career in musicals plays the role of
Sporting Life, so superbly sung and
portrayed by Damon Evans for Rattle.
This 1951 combination of singers together
with the vitality of Lehman Engel’s
conducting helped to re-launch Porgy
on the world. Of equal importance in
this respect was the Everyman Opera
Company of New York. This production
featured a young Leontyne Price as a
voluptuously sexy Bess and William Warfield
as Porgy. Price went on to be the first
fully accepted black singer at the Met
and the non-pareil Aida and Leonora
(in Il Trovatore and La Forza del Destino)
of the theatre and her generation. This
production toured America and Europe
to acclaim and included a visit to Cold
War Russia no less. That production,
like this recording, succeeded in blending
the energy of musical comedy with the
vocal richness of opera.

The juxtaposition on
this issue of full operatic voices in
the appendix, where there is transposition
to suit each singer’s voice, allows
comparison of the work’s evergreen tunes.
But that is hardly the point. The main
recording here fulfils its objective
of combining the energy of musical comedy
with the vocal richness of opera and
is thoroughly recommendable. It is not
in direct competition with either Rattle
or DeMain. Its own virtues stand it
in good stead compared with either view.
It is also a lot cheaper and provides
an affordable opportunity for those
who do not know the work as well as
those who have one or other of the versions
referred to. It has been admirably re-mastered
by Mark Obert-Thorn. With its two approaches
to the work, it is excellent value albeit
that the appendix (CD 2 trs 23-30) gives
only a brief glimpse of the operatic
view of the work. There is a brief leaflet
essay and track-related synopsis.

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